You could feel Laito's eyes on you during chemistry, burning into your back as you took notes. Though Kanato had been almost civil with you in physics, though certainly not nice, Laito had been utterly rotten from the second you had stepped into the class. 'Accidentally' tripping you up, moving your things around without the class even noticing so you looked like a crazy person searching for pens and books you had just had seconds ago, and during the experiment he had resorted to an old tick of almost spilling acid on you, though Elaine had caught him in the act on time, sending him such a threatening glare that he actually backed off. You were surprised to find that everyone knew you had been absent for six months, though predictably your change in appearance wasn't a problem in the slightest, the humans in the school not even realising. Elaine had been delighted to see you, as had Yuuko, and you had to say that you found that rather comforting. You glanced across at Elaine, guilt swooping through your stomach. Though he was still alive, it didn't erase what you had done to her, and over those six months you had come to the obvious realisation that your reaction had been complete overkill. Though she had done a terrible thing, it didn't mean she should die for it.
"What's up Y/N? You're staring at me."
"Nothing, I'm just glad to see you again." You said, turning back to the front of the class as the teacher cleared their throat pointedly. Eventually the bell rang for lunch and you got up, wondering whether Karlheinz was still covering your lunch money; if not you weren't looking forward to going hungry. You passed Kou on your way to the cafeteria, surrounded by a gaggle of girls gushing about his latest concert excitedly. As if feeling your eyes on him he glanced up, bursting into a bright smile and giving you a happy wave, the girls all following his gaze to glower at you jealously, though some looked surprised...wait―
"Oh! It's the girl from the concert!" One of them exclaimed, giving you a wave. "It's nice to see you again. Small world, huh? I would never have thought you were attending our school! You looked way more mature than a high school student!"
That's because I am, you thought, outwardly giving her a smile. "I just came back today."
"That explains it...though...you're Y/N...right?"
"Hm...yes. Why?"
"Weren't you living with the Sakamakis?"
"I had to move back to my home for a while due to a sickness in the family." You lied smoothly, and she nodded in understanding.
"Makes sense. There were all these crazy rumours...and they were all so much more irate when you...but you're back now so―"
"Rumours?" You questioned, and Elaine gave a scoff, taking your arm and tugging you toward the cafeteria.
"Dumb ones about how they'd locked you up, or that you had died and they were covering it up. Or that you had ran away from them, hence the irritation, but it doesn't seem like your return even fixed that so it may have been something else." She explained as you joined the queue for the food. "Pretty petty of Laito to be acting so huffy with you because of something you couldn't help."
"He's always petty in his own way," you sighed, stopping in front of the counter and taking your student card out, handing it to the woman. "I'm not sure if it has anything on it, so could you check it for me, please?"
"Of course!" She quickly swiped your card, eyebrows raising as she looked at the screen. She turned back to you and handed it back, a strange expression on her face. "It's maxed. It looks as if funds have been going in for six months without anything being taken out. We have an on-campus shop if you want to purchase anything."
"Ah...thank you. Well, I'll have the special, please." She nodded, entering it into the terminal. A few minutes later you were sitting with Elaine at an otherwise empty table, digging into your food with relish. "So, what's been going on?"
